Moisture-supplying device for gas-engines.



L. D. JACKSON.

MOISTURE SUPPLYING DEVICE FOR GAS ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- IS. I9I6.

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L. 0. JACKSON.

MOISTURE SUPPLYING DEVICE FOR GAS ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. I8. I9I6. 1,223,980. Patented Apr. 24,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

LOW-BER D. JACKSON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MOISTURE-SUPPLYING DEVICE FOR, GAS-ENGINES.

Specification. of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 24, 1%?17.

Application filed September 18, 1916. Serial No.-120,785.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Lowsnn D. JAoKsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Moisture-Supplying Devices for Gas-Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in moisture supplying devices for gas engines and more particularly to a valve and controlling mechanism for regulating the amount of moisture supplied, the primary object of my invention being the provision of a combined valve and vaporizer of simple construction which will be eflicient in operation and which will need but little attention.

Another object of my invention consists in constructing the casing of the combined air valve and vaporizer in such a manner that air drawn into it is swept downwardly across the surface of water contained in the casing and the air and water thus rising is met by another blast of air entering the opposite side of the casing and the water thoroughly broken up and commingled with the air before its passage through the valve,

A still further object of my invention con sists in providing a novel and effective means for controlling the opening and closing of the valve from the drivers seat.

With these and other objects in view, my invention will be more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically pointed out in the claims which are attached to and form a part of this application.

' In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation, partially in section of a conventional form of motor vehicle, illustrating my invention in use;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevation of the combined vaporizer and valve which I em- Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of such device;

Fig. 4 is a'central vertical section taken axially of the valve casing;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the inner face of the front wall of the valve casing, showing the valve in place;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of one of the casing walls, showing one of the air ports;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a rock shaft forming a portion of the valve controlling mechanism Fig. 8 is a perspective view of one of the control rod guideways.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the pipe holding clamp employed.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

In order to insure a clear and accurate understanding of my invention I have illustrated it in connection with the internal combustion engine 10 of a conventional form of motor vehicle 11. This engine has the usual inlet manifold 12 and exhaust manifold 13 clamped to the engine jacketing by clamps 1 lwhich are secured by bolts 15 and nuts 16. Before describing the application of my appliance, I will first explain in detail the construction of the combined valve and vaporizer forming the principal element of my invention.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 2 to 6 of the drawings, it will be seen that this combined valve and vaporizer includes a substantially cylindrical, although shallow, casing having a circular front wall 17 and a circular rear wall 18 and peripheral wall 19. The peripheral wall is in the form of a relatively narrow ring and is clamped between the peripheral edges of the front and rear' walls of the casing by a plurality of bolts 20 and nuts 21, suitable packing gaskets 22 being interposed between the front and rear faces of the ring and the opposed faces of the front and rear walls. The front wall of the casing is provided adjacent its edge with an outlet port 23 surrounded externally by an internally threaded nipple 24 to receive an outlet pipe and at a point diametrically opposite this port 23 with a relatively small water inlet port 25 which opens into a second internally threaded nipple 26. The front wall of the casing, at one side of the port 23, is formed with a radially extending air inlet passage 27 in the form of a slot, the radial side walls of which are inclined inwardly toward the outlet port 23 so that air drawn into the casing will pass toward such port. The rear wall 18 of the casing is provided at the opposite side of the outlet port 28 with a correspondingly formed air inlet passage 28, the radial side walls of which are, however, inclined inwardly away bottom of the casing.

from the port 23 so that air entering the port 28 will be directed downwardly toward the A pivot 29, which may be in the form of a rivet passed through the front'wall of the casing immediately below the outlet port 23, supports a disk valve 30 formed with a pas sage 31 adapted, in one position of the valve,

to aline with the port 23, a valve lever 32 being mounted upon the outer end of the pivot in order that the valve may be swung or turned to open and close it. The periph eral edge of the valve disk is notched, as shown at 33 to seat a pin 34 extending inwardly from the front wall of the casing which serves to limit the amount of swinging of the valve disk. A packing disk 35, of rubber or equivalent material, is preferably interposed between the front wall of the casing and valve disk to prevent leakage.

In order to afford a simple means for installing the above described valve and for controlling it, I provide a bracket 36 having openings adjacent its ends to receive certain of the bolts 15 in order that it may be secured by these bolts and the nuts 16, in the manner shown in Fig. 1. This bracket is provided with a downwardly depending arm 37 to which the casing of the combined valve and vaporizer may be connected in any suitable manner. Forinstance, in Fig. 1 I have shown the arm as having a lateral terminal threaded into a boss 38 formed upon the rear wall of the valve casing so that the valve casing is supported at right angles to the axisof the crank shaft of the engine with its outlet port 23 in vertical alinement above the water inlet port or passage 25. A pipe 39 leads from the nipple 24 of the valve casing to a union coupling 40 communicating with the intake manifold of the engine at the junction of its trunk and branches, while a pipe 41 leads from the nipple 26 to a union coupling 42 which connects it with a pipe 43 leading from an air tight water tank 44 which is preferably disposed below one of the seats 45 of the vehicle and which is provided with a filling cap 46. A valve 47, which may be of the turn plug type, is inserted in the pipe 41 and provided with a valve lever 48 operable by a plunger 49 extending through the floor 50 of the vehicle and terminating in a knob 51 by means of which it may be manipulated.

A link 52 connects the free end of the valve lever 32 with the horizontally disposed arm of a bell crank lever 53 which is pivoted upon the bracket 36 and a link 54 connects the other arm of this bell crank lever with the radially extending arm 55 of a rock shaft 56 rotatably mounted in suitable bearings 57 carried by the forward portion of the dash 58 of the vehicle. The opposite end of this rock shaft is provided with a second arm 59 and a control rod 60 is connected at one end to this arm and terminates at its other end in a ring shaped handle 61. This control rod extends through the dash and along the side of the steering column 62, being supported by one or more brackets indicated as a whole by the numeral 63 and being provided at either side of these brackets with a stop collar 64 which will limit movement in either direction through engagement with such bracket.

As best shown in Fig. 8, each guide or bracket 63 is formed with a pair of mating semicircular clamp members 65 provided at their ends with radial clamping cars 66 to receive clamping bolts 67 by means of which the members may be clamped to the steering column. One of these cars is extended and bent upon itself to provide a guide sleeve 68 through which the control rod 60 passes.

In operation, assuming that the valve 47 has been opened and that the engine is running, as soon as the valve 30 is opened or partially opened, the suction of the engine will draw air into the casing of the vaporizer through both of the ports 27 and 28. The air entering through the port 28 will sweep downwardly over the surface of any water in the casing and will pick up a cer tain amount of this water, after which the mixed air and water will be deflected upwardly through the top of the casing where it will meet air entering through the port 27 which will serve to additionally mix the water picked up with the air in the casing.

This mixture of air and water will then be drawn through the port 23 and pipe 39 into the intake manifold'of the engine and so into the engine cylinders. Obviously, any desired amount of air and water may be admitted in this manner by a proper setting of the valve 30 to a more or less open extent by movement of the control rod 60 and it will be clear that as the speed of the engine increases its suction will correspondingly increase and the amount of water employed will automatically vary to suit the needs of the engine. The admission of a mixture of air and water in this manner has been found to be very effective as actual tests have shown that an average of three pints of water to every gallon of gasolene is consumed and that the speed and power of the engine is thereby increased without increasing the quantity of gas employed. Very little, if any, of this moistened air should be admitted to the engine until the latter has become heated, however, but after the encarbon deposits which may exist in the motor previous to its application.

Preferably, at the point where the water supply pipe 41 passes the exhaust pipe 69, it is passed through a tubular sleeve 7 0 carried by a split clamping ring 71 which is secured about the exhaust pipe by a bolt 7 2 and nut 73, as will be understood by reference to F l and 9 of the drawings. This clamp and its sleeve 70 become highly heated through engagement with the exhaust pipe and in turn heat the water passing through the pipe "l -l so that the water supply of my combined valve and mixing de vice is heated.

Although I have illustrated and described my invention in all its details of construction, it will of course be understood that I reserve the right to make any changes, within the scope of the appended claims, with out in the slightest degree departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described the invention,what is claimed as new is:

1..A combined valve and mixer for sup plying air and water to internal combustion engines, including a substantially cylindrical shallow casing adapted to be positioned upon edge and formed adjacent its lower edge with a water inlet port and adjacent its upper edge with an outlet port and at either side of the outlet port with air inlet ports, and a valve controlling passage of air and water from the outlet port.

2. A combined valve and mixer for supplying air and water to internal combustion engines, including a substantially cylindrical shallow casing adapted to be positioned upon edge and formed adjacent its lower edge with a water inlet port and adjacent its upper edge with an outlet port and at either side of the outlet port with air inlet ports, and a valve controlling passage of air and water from the outlet port, the air inlet ports being formed one in each end wall of the casing.

A combined valve and mixer for supplying air and water to internal combustion engines, including a substantially cylindrical shallow casing adapted to be positioned upon edge and formed adjacent its lower edge with a water inlet port and adjacent its upper edge with an outlet port and at either side 01 the outlet port with air inlet ports, and a valve controlling passage of air and water from the outlet port, the air inlet ports being formed one in each end wall of the casing with the walls of one directed inwardly and downwardly and the walls of the other directed inwardly and upwardly.

a. A combined valve and mixer for supplying air and water to internal combustion engines, including a substantially cylindrical and relatively shallow casing adapted to be positioned on edge and provided adjacent its lower edge with a water inlet port and adjacent its upper edge with an outlet port and at either side of the outlet port with air inlet ports, a disk valve mounted in the casing and controlling the outlet port, said disk valve being formed with an opening adapted to register with the outlet port and in its periphery with a notch, a pin carried by the casing and seating in the notch to limit turning of the valve, and means exterior of the casing for operating the valve.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature.

LUWBER D. JACKSON. [L.S.]

Cooies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

